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Ladies and gentlemen: Never take these notes as complete…this is a review section and no replacement
for class notes.
Developmental Psychology: the study of the physical, cognitive, and social changes throughout the
lifespan; CONCEPTION - DEATH
THREE BIG ISSUES
1. Nature/Nurture: How do our genetic inheritance (our nature) and our experience in our environment (the
nurture we receive) affect our development?
2. Continuity/Stages: Is development a gradual continuous process like riding an escalator, or does it
proceed through a sequence of separate stages, like climbing a staircase?
3. Stability/Change: Do our early personality traits persist through life, or do they change significantly as we
age?
PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT
Conception
A single sperm cell (male) penetrates the outer
coating of the egg (female) and fuse to form one
fertilized cell.
Lennart Nilsson/ Albert Bonniers Publishing Company
Lennart Nilsson/ Albert Bonniers Publishing Company
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Zygote: the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week
period of rapid cell division and develops into an
embryo.
Embryo: the developing person from about 2
weeks following conception through the 2nd
month.
Fetus: the developing person from 9 weeks
after conception to birth.
Neonate: A newborn infant.
Teratogens: chemicals or viruses that can reach
the embryo or fetus during prenatal
development and cause harm.
Ψ Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS): physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a
pregnant woman's drinking.
INFANCY & CHILDHOOD
Reflexes: sucking, grasping, & rooting (a baby's tendency when touched on the cheek, to open it's mouth
and search for a nipple).
Maturation: biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relative uninfluenced by
the environment.
Cognition: refers to all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and
communicating.
Schema: according to Piaget, a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. The lens
through which we see and interpret the world around us.
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Assimilation: Interpreting one's new experiences in terms of one's existing schemas.
versus
Accommodation: changing or adapting one's current schemas to incorporate new information and
experiences.
Refer to your physical development Handout for Milestones in dev.
Check this out and STUDY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor Stage: (birth to 2 yrs) stage during which infants know the world through their senses and
motor activities.
Ψ Object Permanence: the awareness that things continue to exist even when they cannot be
perceived.
Ψ Stranger Anxiety: the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months
of age.
Preoperational Stage: (2-7 yrs) stage during which a child learns to use language but does not yet
comprehend concrete logic.
Ψ Egocentrism: the inability of the preoperational child to take another person's perspective or point
of view
Ψ Theory of Mind: people’s ideas about their own and other peoples' mental states.
Concrete Operational Stage: (7-11 yrs) stage during which children gain the mental operations that allow
them to logically about concrete events.
Ψ Conservation: the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same
despite changes in the forms of objects.
Formal Operational Stage: (begins about 12 yrs) stage during which people begin to think logically about
abstract events and develop the capacity for moral reasoning.
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Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Typical Age Range
Description of Stage
Developmental Milestones
Sensorimotor: Children experience the world
through senses and actions (looking, touching,
sucking, etc.)


Object Permanence
Stranger Anxiety
About 2 to 6 years
Preoperational: Children represent things with
words and images, but lack logical reasoning.





Pretend Play
Egocentrism
Language Development
Private Speech
Theory of Mind
About 6 years to 11
years
Concrete Operational: Children can think
logically about concrete events and can perform
arithmetical operations. However, they have
problems with abstract thought (i.e., analogies
and metaphors).



Logical Thought
Conservation
Mathematical
Transformations
Reversibility
Formal Operational: Individuals can logically
explore both concrete and abstract concepts.
They can systematically think about all
possibilities, project into the future or recall the
past, and reason by analogy and metaphor.


Birth to about 2 years
About 12 to Adulthood

Abstract Reasoning
Potential for Mature Moral
Reasoning
Attachment
Ψ Attachment: an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking
closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation.
Ψ Imprinting: As described by Lorenz, the process by which certain animals (not humans) form
attachments during a critical period early in life. It is mainly seen in birds (i.e., a newly hatched chick
will follow the first moving object it sees).
Ψ Critical Period: an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli
or experiences produces proper development.
*In his study with baby monkeys and cloth or wire "mothers", Harlow found that body contact not
nourishment was most important in the formation of attachment in the baby monkeys.
The most important psychological task for the infant is called attachment, meaning the
Attachment is normally established by 8 months or so:
Ψ Signs of attachment include separation anxiety, which is common between 6 and 18
months old
Ψ And stranger anxiety, which is common between 8 months and 24 months.
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It was assumed that infants would attach to those who feed them, this is not
so.
This was part of the ’08 Free Response - Harlow and Bolby,
Lorenz and Ainsworth*********
Social Development Theories
There is a great deal of research on the social development of children.
John Bowlby(father of attachment theory) proposed one of the earliest theories of social
development: Bowlby believed that early relationships with caregivers play a major role in child
development and continue to influence social relationships throughout life.
John Bowlby - Attachment Theory
Attachment is a special emotional relationship that involves an exchange of comfort, care, and
pleasure.
The roots of research on attachment began with Freud’s theories about love, but another
researcher is usually credited as the f
John Bowlby devoted extensive research to the concept of attachment, describing it as a
“…lasting psychological connectedness between human beings".
Bowlby shared the psychoanalytic view that early experiences in childhood have an important
influence on development and behavior later in life.
Ψ Our early attachment styles are established in childhood through the infant/caregiver
relationship.
Harry and Margaret HARLOW:
Ψ In his study with baby monkeys and cloth or wire "mothers", Harlow found that body contact
not nourishment was most important in the formation of attachment in the baby monkeys.
Ψ Physical touch is crucial to attachment:
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Evolutionary Psychology:
Ψ Konrad Lorenz - imprinting and critical period
Ψ Imprinting: As described by Konrad Lorenz, the process by which certain animals (not
humans) form attachments during a critical period early in life.
Ψ
It is mainly seen in birds (i.e., a newly hatched chick will follow the first moving
object it sees).
Ψ
Humans do not imprint but they do form fondness based on attachment
Ψ Critical Period: an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain
stimuli or experiences produces proper development.
Mary Ainsworth: Comparison of disrupted mother-child bonds to normal mother-child relationship
showed that a child's lack of a mother figure leads to "adverse development effects."
In 1954, she left Tavistock Clinic to do research in Africa, where she carried out her longitudinal
field study of mother-infant interaction.
She and her colleagues developed the Strange Situation Procedure (way infants relate to their
caregivers), which is a widely used, well researched and validated, method of assessing an infant's
pattern and style of attachment to a caregiver.
Ainsworth’s “Strange Situation" Assessment
Based on these observations, Ainsworth concluded that there were three major styles of
attachment:
1. Secure Attachment –
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2. Ambivalent attachment –
and
3. Insecure Attachment(in the bottom table Insecure= avoidment–
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Parenting Styles
Authoritarian: Parents who impose rules and expect unquestioned obedience.
Permissive: Parents who submit to their children's desires, make few demands, and use little punishment.
Authoritative: Parents who are both demanding and responsive. They exert control not only by setting rules
and enforcing them but also by explaining the reasons and, especially with older children, encouraging
open discussion and allowing exceptions to the rules when appropriate.
ADOLESCENCE
Physical Development
Puberty: the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.
Primary Sex Characteristics: the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual
reproduction possible.
Secondary Sex Characteristics: non-reproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips,
male voice quality, and body hair.
Menarche: the first menstrual period.
Cognitive Development: An important aspect of cognitive development in teens is the ability to form
moral judgments. Kohlberg outlined the Stages of Moral Development
1. Preconventional Morality: (before age 9) the morality of self-interest. Children obey either to avoid
punishment or to obtain rewards.
2. Conventional Morality: (early adolescence) upholding the laws and social rules simply because they
are laws and rules. Or obey rules to obtain social approval and avoid social disapproval.
3. Postconventional Morality: affirmation of people's agreed upon rights or following what one
personally perceives as basic ethical principles.
Social Development
Identity: one's sense of self.
According to Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various
roles.
Intimacy: according to Erikson, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task
in late adolescence and early adulthood.
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Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
Approximate Age
Description of Developmental Task
Infancy
Trust vs. Mistrust: During the first year, babies are torn between trusting and mistrusting their parents.
If the baby’s needs are dependably met, they will develop a sense of basic trust in the predictability of
their environment. Otherwise, frustrated infants may become suspicious, fearful, and overly concerned
about security.
(1st Year)
Toddler
(2nd Year)
Preschooler
(3-5 years)
Elementary School
(6 years to puberty)
Adolescence
Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt: Due to children’s growing physical development, they begin to have
greater contact with their surroundings. They learn to hold things, manipulate objects, and control their
excretory functions. If a child repeatedly fails to master skills during this stage, the child may experience
self-doubt and shame.
Initiative vs. Guilt: Preschoolers learn to initiate tasks, carry out plans, and undertake new projects.
Parental support for these initiatives can lead to a sense of joy in the children. However, if children are
unable to acquire a sense of initiative, they may develop strong feelings of guilt, unworthiness, and
resentment.
Competence (or "Industry") vs. Inferiority: At home and school, children encounter a new set of
expectations. They need the skills to become fully-functioning adults. If the are unable to meet these
expectations, they may conclude that they are inadequate, mediocre, or inferior and lose faith in their
power to become competent.
Identity vs. Role Confusion: At puberty, childhood ends and adulthood begins. The critical problem at
this stage is to find one’s identity. Failure to forge an identity leads to role confusion and despair.
(teen years into early
20’s)
Young Adulthood
(20’s to early 40’s)
Middle Adulthood
(40’s to 60’s)
Late Adulthood
(Late 60’s and up)
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Intimacy vs. Isolation: During this stage, men and women must learn to be intimate (physically and
emotionally) with another adult. Usually, this occurs in the form of marriage. Erikson felt we must have
resolved earlier developmental issues in order to become intimate. To form an intimate relationship,
lovers must be trusting, autonomous, capable of initiative, and must understand themselves. Failure at
intimacy can bring a painful sense of loneliness and isolation.
Generativity vs. Stagnation: During this stage, the challenge is to remain productive and creative in all
aspects of one’s life. People who have successfully negotiated the earlier 6 stages are likely to find
meaning and joy in all aspects of their lives—career, family, community, etc. For others, life becomes a
drab routine.
Integrity vs. Despair: As people get older, they must come to terms with the approach of death. People
who have gained full maturity by resolving earlier stages possess the integrity to face death with a
minimum of fear.
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ADULTHOOD & AGING
Menopause: the time of natural cessation of menstruation and decline in the woman's ability to reproduce.
Alzheimer's Disease: a progressive, irreversible, and fatal brain disorder characterized by gradual
deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and physical functioning.
Cognitive Development
Aging and Intelligence
Cross-sectional Studies: researchers test and compare people of various ages. Early studies of this type
showed a significant decline in intelligence as a person aged.
Longitudinal Studies: researchers test and retest the same group of subjects over a long period of time.
Studies of this type do not show a decline in intelligent and are likely more accurate than the crosssectional studies.
Crystallized Intelligence: (measured as verbal IQ) one's accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; it
tends to increase with age.
Fluid Intelligence: (measures as non-verbal IQ) one's ability to reason speedily and abstractly; it tends
to decrease with age.
Social Development
Generativity vs Stagnation: According to Erikson, people in middle age discover a sense of contributing to
the world, usually through family or work, or they may feel a lack of purpose.
Integrity vs Despair: when reflecting on his or her life, the older adult may feel a sense of satisfaction or
failure.
DEATH AND DYING
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross identified 5 stages that terminally ill people may pass through. They are: denial,
anger, bargaining, depression, & acceptance: DABDA
Successful Aging
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